Alleviating Headache and Pain in GWI With Neuronavigation Guided rTMS

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Headaches (HA) and wide spread pain are some of the most common debilitating symptoms in Gulf War Veterans (GWV) with Gulf War Illness (GWI). Migraine like HA and diffuse body pain were detected in 64% of GWV with GWI. This high prevalence of chronic HA and diffuse body pain conditions are often associated with neuropsychological dysfunction in mood, attention, memory and other systemic symptoms, which cast a profound negative impact on patients' quality of life. Unfortunately, conventional pharmacological treatments for GWI related headaches and pain (GWI-HAP) has not been shown to be effective and drugs such as narcotics contain many long term untoward psychosomatic and abusive side effects. Therefore, developing and validating non-invasive and low risk innovative treatment for this patient population is warranted. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is currently a US FDA approved treatment for major depression and migraine HA.

This assessment has 9 questions about pain level, relief, and interference. Pain level and interference questions range from 0-10, with 10 being the worst. Level of relief has a range of 0-100%, with 100% being complete relief.

This self-reporting survey contains 15 questions that describe the type of pain. Each descriptor is scored between 0-3, with 3 being severe pain. The total score then ranges from 0-45. This questionnaire is filled out one each for joint pain and one for muscle pain.

This form contains a checklist of 19 possible areas for muscle pain. The checkmarks are tallied to give the Widespread Pain Index score, which ranges from 0-19. A score of 19 would suggest muscle pain in all 19 possible locations.

This 3-part questionnaire measures the level of interference the pain causes, the overall impact of the pain, and intensity of the symptoms. There are a total of 21 questions, each with a range of 0-10, with 10 being either "very difficult" or "always." The FIQR total has a range of 0-210.

This is a 15-minute attention task administered on a laptop. The subject is prompted to press the spacebar as quickly as possible after every letter that appears on the screen except for the letter X. The exam is automatically scored by the program and reports omission rate and response latency. The attentional cognitive function is tracked by their change in these scores over time.

This is a memory and recall task that requires the subject to memorize a list of 10 words and recall them. There are 3 trials and they are scored just by the number of words that can be recalled each time, which can be from 0-10 for a total range of 0-30 words. The second part of this test rates their recognition discrimination index by asking if certain words were on the original list. This is scored by taking the number of true positives and subtracting the false positives. The range for this is from 0-12, with 12 indicative of better discrimination within memory.

This is a timed test that is administered to assess executive function. Both tests have a series of numbers or numbers and letters that are to be connected in sequential order. The faster the completion time, the better the executive function.

This is a timed test that is administered to assess executive function. Both tests have a series of numbers or numbers and letters that are to be connected in sequential order. The faster the completion time, the better the executive function. [ Time Frame: 2 months for each subject (11 visits) ]

This is an administered IQ test that is designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. There are several parts to the test, with each response being scored from 0-2 or 0-4 based on the quality of the answer or the completion time. The raw scores are then converted to scaled scores and summed to give the Full Scale score. The higher the Full Scale score, the higher the IQ classification.

This questionnaire rates the severity of depression in 21 questions. Each question either ranges from 0-2 or 0-4. The sum of the scores would give the total score, where a higher score would mean more severe depression.

This is a 38-question survey that assesses physical function, physical health limitations, emotional problem limitations, fatigue, emotional well-being, social functioning, pain, and general health. The scoring follows the official guidelines by RAND, where certain questions determine each health aspect. The questions are rated from 1-5, and then scored from 0-100. Each health aspect will have a range of 0-100, with 100 suggesting a more favorable health state.

This is self-reporting survey has 9 questions and determines the quality and patterns of sleep. Questions are either free-response or have a range from 0-3, with 3 being "more frequent" or "very bad." The responses will be scored based on the guidelines at the bottom of the page. The global PSQI score then has a range of 0-21, with 21 indicative of poor sleep quality.

This survey has 7 questions that rate the severity of insomnia problems. All questions range from 0-4 and the sum of the answers would give the total score. The total score range from 0-28, with 28 being severe clinical insomnia.

This questionnaire contains 7 questions in order to determine the level of fatigue one is experiencing. The questions range from 1-5, with 5 being "extremely" or "entirely." The higher one scores, the more severe the fatigue.

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